My goal as a REI is to help provide patients with the information they need to not only boost their natural fertility, but also to help them have a healthy pregnancy and to, ultimately, bring home a happy healthy kiddo. Those of you who know a family affected by autism, know how terrifying the condition can be. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, impaired verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior.

Autism is thought to develop during pregnancy. Many neurodevelopmental disorders, like problems with the baby’s spinal cord, are known to be impacted by maternal nutrition during pregnancy. New research suggests that what mom eats during her pregnancy may alter the risk of her child developing autism.

In this large study of over 270,000 mother-child pairs, women were screened for vitamin use and their children were followed to see if they developed autism throughout childhood. Maternal multivitamin use with or without additional iron or folic acid, or both was associated with lower odds of having an autistic child with intellectual disability in the child compared with mothers who did not use multivitamins, iron, and folic acid (odds ratio 0.69). This study suggests that maternal multivitamin supplementation during pregnancy may be something women can do to decrease their risk of having a child with autism.

What you can do:

Take a prenatal vitamin when you are trying to conceive and throughout your pregnancy

It’s time to review the latest findings in Reproductive Medicine. This month there are new insights into why more boys are born in the US than girls as well as a new strategy for women undergoing fertility treatment to reduce the risk of having a child with autism. As always, I have included links to the studies for you check them out for yourself:

More Boys are Born than Girls; here’s why—about 51% of all of the babies born are male. This observation has been consistent for several hundred years. A new study has provided the most comprehensive data to explain why we don’t see an equal number of boys and girls in the delivery room. It turns out that the explanation is based upon what happens during pregnancy; not prior to fertilization as previously assumed. The researchers found that although a higher number of male are lost during the first trimester; female fetuses are more likely to miscarry later in pregnancy. The end result is that a slightly higher number of males survive until birth than females.

Supplementing Estrogen Does Not Improve Pregnancy Outcome—there has long been debate amongst fertility centers as to whether or not additional estrogen is beneficial to pregnancy rates. New data shows that levels higher than the normal physiologic ones are not helpful. Other studies have suggested the extra estrogen may even boost the risk of blood pressure problems later in pregnancy. Combined these findings support the ongoing trend to create a hormonally balanced environment rather than simply adding more.

Genetic Testing improves Live Birth Rate in Women over 40—using pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) to identify the healthiest embryos for transfer is an effective tool according to new information . They demonstrated a live birth rate that was three times higher using this technique then using standard IVF alone for women over 40. This means that identifying healthy embryos prior to transfer is a highly effective strategy to achieve a successful birth.

Single Embryo Transfer associated with Lower Risk of Autism—previous data has suggested that there may be a higher risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) associated with advanced reproductive techniques (ART). Other studies have shown that this is more likely age related or that it might be due to the population of patients seeking fertility treatment. This new study found that when only singleton pregnancies result following IVF; the observed risk disappears. This is another good reason to consider elective single embryo transfer (ESET).

Vitamin D Deficiency associated with Lower Pregnancy Rate in IVF—a comprehensive review of 34 published trials has found that women with lower than normal vitamin D levels have less success when undergoing IVF treatment. There is not yet proof that supplementing with vitamin D reverses this trend. However, given the other health benefits and the low cost of this “sunshine hormone” it sure makes sense to consider vitamin D supplementation for women whose level is lower than normal.

Smoking during Pregnancy can have Lasting Effects Upon your Child—it has long been recognized that women that were smokers had lower fertility rates, higher miscarriage rates and earlier onset of menopause than nonsmokers. New information now suggests that at least some of these negative reproductive effects can be passed on their children as well. Specifically, they found girls born to women that smoked had an earlier onset of puberty than those born to nonsmokers. Noted by the investigators was that early onset of puberty is also linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer including breast cancer.